Negdel is the common term for the agricultural cooperatives in the Mongolian People's Republic. The full name is Khödöö aj axuin negdel ( = Agricultural association).

Early attempts

First attempts at collectivization in the Mongolian people's republic were made around 1930-32, but failed miserably. Mongolia's livestock population decreased by around a third, and the forceful manner in which collectivization was conducted lead to uprisings that could only be quelled with the help of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

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Introduction of the negdel

New attempts at collectivization were begun with different tactics and another name - the cooperatives in the early 30s had been called khamtral, i.e. collective, kolkhoz

Kolkhoz

A kolkhoz , plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms . The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство, or "collective farm", while sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство...

- in the mid-1930s, but initially only on a very small scale: while there were 139 negdels country-wide in 1950 , in 1949 ten negdels in Khövsgöl combined had no more than 4,700 animals, with the smallest negdel only owning 43.

Collectivization

The move towards collectivization gained momentum in the mid-1950s, and by 1960 99,5% of herders had "voluntarily" joined a negdel. The number of negdels was gradually decreased so that by time they became identical to sums area- and population-wise.

Dissolution

After the Dissolution of the Soviet Union

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...

 and the revolution of 1990, the herds were privatized again and all negdels dissolved. Farms were organized into private companies. The process of privatisation occurred through two phases of reform between 1991 and 1992.

Organization

A negdel was organized into several brigades that were mostly nomadic. The members of a negdel received wages and were entitled to holidays and pensions. Dependent on the geographical location, herders were allowed to keep 10-15 private animals per family member, but no more than 50-75 per family.